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Friday, July 24, 2015

Summertime Joy Achieved At Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA of The Rockies

Summertime for our family means an opportunity to spend quality time together, exploring museums, walking to get ice cream after dinner, bike rides to catch a brilliant sunset, and it always must include time in the mountains. It also means, extra time to really organize our bedrooms and closets, weeding in the yard, putting the sprinkler under the trampoline to jump with joy after a day of tasks has been completed! I've come to appreciate a nice balance of busy time with activities and down days for us are just as important as adventure days.

When we were invited to spend a couple of nights this summer to Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA of The Rockies, I immediately responded yes. YMCA's Snow Mountain Ranch in Granby is a place where we inevitably create long lasting family memories. Snow Mountain Ranch is a gem, it's brimming with natural beauty. All too often we hear phrases thrown around casually like, something for everyone, but at SMR it's simply the truth. Just off the top of my head here's a list of some of the activities offered on site: tennis, miniature golf, family game night, horseback riding, guided hikes, mountain biking, horseshoes, a craft center, swimming, rock climbing, archery, canoeing, rollerskating, basketball, arts activities, group sports, s'mores, zip lining, summer tubing, library, tricycle park, fishing, disc golf, and a labyrinth (winter has an additional set of snow based activities). I mean, wow! The majority of those activities are free to people staying on site or with a day pass, but some have a small fee. I would recommend clicking on the activity link to see what's being currently offered because I know I just scratched the surface.

Here are some moments I capture while we were on site:

One of the most joyful moments we had at Snow Mountain Ranch was at the tubing hill. It's big, fast, and fun, not to mention has a beautiful view of the mountains! The white part is a specially designed summertime tubing hill surface that is used in conjunction with single or double tubes, throw in some misting water and voile magic! The tubing hill techs send you sailing down the hill with one simple request fulfilled, forward, backward, or spinning? I lost track of how many times we went down the hill, we could not get enough.

You may be wondering, what are the accommodations like at Snow Mountain Ranch? We stayed in a room at Indian Peaks Lodge and had meal tickets at Schlessman Commons. If you aren't familiar with YMCA of the Rockies properties, you won't find televisions in the rooms, but there is wifi available in locations. Personally we embrace the opportunity to unplug and view our room as simply a place to come and have a good night's sleep, we are most interested in actively exploring everything the YMCA SMR has to offer. Added bonus from exploring from sun up to sun down? We sleep really well.

Here's the view from our lodge room:

There are many other accommodation options from camping sites to group retreat cabins and every size in between. Of course my family is most excited to return and stay at a yurt! The lodge rooms start at $79/night, cabins start at $179/night, campsites $47/night and yurts are $94/night. The prices vary for seasons and view the ranges here for Summer and Fall. Here's a special for 2 free breakfasts for every lodge room booked. Of course because the YMCA of the Rockies is such an amazing place, they offer a special military getaway rate, details here!

A special thank you to the Snow Mountain Ranch, YMCA of the Rockies, for once again providing us the opportunity to grow, laugh, explore, and bond as a family. Summertime magic achieved.

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Disclosure, our meals, activities, and accommodations were provided by YMCA of The Rockies.